Phil Johnson recently posted a blog entry on the Pyromaniacs blog. If you aren't a fan of Team Pyro, you really should check them out. Visit their blog, and do a read through. Of course, if you aren't a fan of reading that's a little heavy, you may not like the blog. Team Pyro consists of four bloggers, who visit topics concerning Christianity, particularly from a Reformed perspective. I'm a bit of a fan of these guys. But right now, we're talking about the church and politics, so let's get back on topic. Phil made a post that you can read here. Allow me to pull a quote out, from the beginning paragraph.
"If you are known for your political agenda more than for your commitment to Christ, your values are upside down. If you make the gospel subservient to a political strategy or a partisan agenda, you're probably doing more harm than good." Think about that for a minute. How often do you hear a preacher, particularly a tv preacher, speak more about politics than about the Gospel? Pat Robertson and John Hagee(both heretics by the way) immediately come to mind. While they both may engage in some good things, they do have some major problems. These men seem to be more in line with Dominionists.
I do think that Phil missed something though, in his series. Of course, it probably isn't his fault, because I've not heard of this much myself. Around two years ago, I visited a church here in the Memphis area. This was right around the time that Israel and Syria were trading rockets back and forth. Naturally, this was immediately picked up by the prophecy nuts. When the pastor of this church got up to preach, he made a statement that concerned me so much that I didn't walk away from that church after the sermon, I ran. I've never dropped back in, and I won't. He stated "I spent eight hours watching the news about Israel and Syria in preparation for this sermon. And over the coming weeks, we'll be doing the same thing as we discuss this event and the prophecy of Revelation." Could you imagine such a thing being done in your church? Could you imagine your pastor standing up and stating that he had spent eight hours preparing for his sermon by watching TV? How does a pastor admit to such nonsense?
Sermons in our churches should be based on Scripture, not on the news. This is one of the dangers of preaching primarily in a topical manner. Now I'm not saying that topical preaching is bad. I think it can be very good. I think covering issues such as the Lord's Supper, Baptism, and Church Discipline for a few examples in a topical manner is tremendous, and can probably be covered better topically than when preaching in an expository manner only.
But I think this is indicative of a deeper problem, mainly that some Christians get so involved in current events and political events, that they read into Scripture what isn't there. They get so excited about prophecy, that every event in the Middle East is major news to them.
And the dangerous and scary part is that the people in the congregations sit and listen to such nonsense, and do nothing about it, because they see no wrong. They either don't care, or don't know enough about the Bible to realize that this is wrong.
If you're a pastor, a leader, a Sunday School teacher, or anyone teaching others in churches, it would probably be wise to heed Phil Johnson's advice in the blog message. Allow me to take some of his advice, and paraphrase it to match what I've said here. If what happens in the news alters your preaching, then you've got your heart and head in the wrong place. Preach the Gospel, and not the News. Christians don't need sermons relevant to current events. They need sermons that are spiritual, and Biblically sound.
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